


Wheel of Fortune

by NightsAcquaintance



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, Hero | Luminary is Named Eleven | El (Dragon Quest XI), M/M, Nonbinary Sylvia | Sylvando (Dragon Quest XI), Past Character Death, Slow Burn, Trans Character, Will add tags as I go, past serena/jade
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26172475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsAcquaintance/pseuds/NightsAcquaintance
Summary: “Well… Yes… It’s just the thought of going through everything again… hardly something I’m looking forward to. I thought I was done with it, honestly.” Eleven said. The Seer shrugged,“You are done with it! For this life at least.” They stared at Eleven, face unchanging. Eventually, they just sighed, “Well, when you give me that look, how am I supposed to just throw you into the next era of Erdrea’s doom!”Time and time again, in an endless cycle, the Luminary appears in times of crisis to save Erdrea. Deep down, Eleven always knew that there never would really be an end to the fighting. All he really wanted was a break, he had no idea all it took was giving the Seer his best puppy-dog eyes to get one.(Reincarnation AU in modern-day Erdrea. Country-boy Eleven is starting his first year at a big-city university and, for better or worse, meets some familiar faces.)
Relationships: Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI), Emma | Gemma/Serena | Sena, Graig | Hendrik/Sylvia | Sylvando (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. The Beginning

One day, every light will go out. It doesn’t matter how bright it is, or how long it takes, everything fades eventually. Even heroes are bound to the cycle of life and death. On this day, the light of Erdrea’s luminary has finally been snuffed out. It was peaceful and quiet, hardly befitting to a hero of such accomplishment, but it’s all he wanted. A quiet death in his old age, surrounded by friends and family in his hometown of Cobblestone.  
His eyes closed for the last time, eyelids heavy. A voice called to him from the void that stretched out ahead of him,

“Just as uneventful as you hoped? A little boring if you ask me.”

Eleven opened his eyes just as slowly as he closed them. Around him was nothing but white space. In front of him stood a person that he recognised from his youth, though they didn’t appear to have aged a day since the last time he saw them. He couldn’t help but chuckle a little,

"The Seer? I wasn’t expecting to ever see you again!” he spoke fondly with a soft smile. The Seer laughed in response,

“My influence on Erdrea is much more powerful than you think! Well, Luminary. You had a good run, don’t you think? Time to take that shiny hero's soul of yours and continue the line of Luminaries!” They said. Eleven's calm expression fell away to a nervous frown. The Seer tilted their head, “What were you expecting? The Luminary's power is passed on through reincarnation. It’s etched into your soul.”

“Well… Yes… It’s just the thought of going through everything again… hardly something I’m looking forward to. I thought I was done with it, honestly.” Eleven said. The Seer shrugged,

“You are done with it! For this life at least.” They stared at Eleven, face unchanging. Eventually, they just sighed, “Well, when you give me that look, how am I supposed to just throw you into the next era of Erdrea’s doom!” They closed their eyes and appeared to be deep in thought for a moment. When they opened their eyes again, they took a step towards Eleven, “I see that there are many centuries before the peace of Erdrea is threatened once again. How about this, in between then and now, I send you off to a life where there is no need for you to save the world? A break life, if you will.” They finished. Eleven’s eyes lit up.

“R-really!? You can do that?” He looked down at his hand, “My mark though… it’d give me away right away. With no real threat there, I’m not eager to relive my darkspawn days…”

“Don’t worry about that.” The seer said with a shrug, “I’ll take care of it. Least I can do since you saved the whole world, I guess.” Eleven’s smile returned and the seer crossed their arms, “I suppose I should tell you, in your next life you may see some familiar faces. Your friends, your allies, they’re bound to the soul of the luminary and receive the same blessing you do, to reincarnate when Erdrea needs you. Well, or the curse I guess. Depends how you look at it. Either way, they’ll be there in one way or another, so keep an eye out.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Eleven replied. The Seer straightened and reached a hand out towards Eleven,

“Are you ready to go?” They asked. Eleven silently nodded and took their hand, then there was nothing.

* * *

Centuries later in a busy hospital, a baby was born. His mother held him close to her and he reached up to her face with his tiny hands.  
“Well Irwin, you had a name in mind didn’t you? I’ll consider it.” His mother said, not taking her eyes away from her baby. The child's father stood by the bed,

“I was thinking something like... Onyx!” He said. He spoke with confidence like it was the smartest idea anyone had ever had. His wife couldn’t help but grimace at the suggestion,

“It’s a little... tacky... don’t you think…?” She said. Irwin looked at least slightly offended,

“No, no, Eleanor! I’ve thought it over so much! It’s cool and manly, but it’ll also match his sister's name, don’t you think? Siblings with matching names are cute!” He insisted. Eleanor laughed,

“I’m… not quite sure about that. I had my own name in mind, and I reserve the right to veto any names you’ve thought of, we’ve been over this.” She said. She finished in a mocking sing-song tone of voice.

“Yes, yes. Well, what name have you got?” He leaned over the bed, extending a hand out to the child. The baby grabbed at one of his fingers.

“I was thinking… Eleven. El for short.” Eleanor said. Irwin looked up at her,

“How is that any better than Onyx?”

“Eleven, like the Luminary from the legends! I think it’d be cute, and give him a namesake that he can look up to.” She explained. She gave a bright smile to Irwin, who just stood back up and sighed,

“You know I can never say no to you when you look at me like that!” He leaned over again to look at his son with a soft smile, “Eleven it is.”

* * *

For our dear luminary, life could never be that simple. Even in this life, he would not be afforded the luxury of growing up with his birth parents. Though Erdrea was at peace, the other souls bound to the Luminary’s had other plans. This time, however, he would not lose his parents to an event that would trigger a great war. Instead, it was something as simple as a vacation gone wrong. All it took was a small malfunction in the ship's operating room and in a matter of hours, it was on the ocean floor. For the Luminary and his family, what was meant to be a relaxing cruise had turned into a nightmare.  
Eleanor and Irwin had survived, but their dear son had become separated from them and they figured he was as good as dead when they couldn’t find him on any other lifeboats. The child was truly lost to sea, though they weren’t aware that it would only be a temporary affair. If the baby were anyone else, they most certainly would be lost forever. But he was not anyone else. And if, say, a magical all-seeing being were to whisper some of their secrets into the ear of a benevolent mermaid queen who could safely send the baby to shore, well that would guarantee the baby would survive! And Guarantee she did.  
On that fateful night when the storm finally cleared, a kind old man would find a baby floating in the river by his favorite fishing spot. He waded into the water and reached for the child, pulling him from the basket he was in. The old man raised the baby to see him in the light,

“Why, you’ve been through an awful storm just now, haven’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such a short prologue, wrote it mostly on a whim to de-stress but thought it would be fun to share


	2. A Long Way To Go

“ELEVEN!!!!” 

El turned around, looking down through the tree branches. On the ground below him he would find his best friend, looking around aimlessly for him. He made his way down the tree, hopping down close to her. She jumped when he landed,

“Sweet baby Luminary! Make some noise when you move! You scared the bejeebers outta me!” She said. Her tone was angry, but El could tell she wasn’t serious. He gave her a small apologetic smile,

“Sorry Gemma…” he said softly. Not because he was ashamed or embarrassed, that was just how he spoke. He never seemed to ever raise his voice and somehow his tone was always smooth and soft. Even as a baby, he rarely cried.

Gemma pouted, making a show of turning around dramatically,

“You are  _ not! _ ” She said. Whatever act she was putting on, it fell quickly and she turned back around, grabbing El by the hand and leading him towards town, “I can’t believe you would lose track of time today! Your mom has been  _ waiting _ for you!” She let go of El as they approached the town. she turned to him with her arms crossed, “Honestly! I thought you’d be more excited! Today’s the big day, moving to Dundrasil for university! It’s  _ supposed _ to be exciting!” She punctuated her sentence with a light stomp of her right foot. El just shrugged,

“Then shouldn’t you be excited too?” He asked. Gemma crossed her arms again. He was always good at reading her, and straight to the point. Never wasted words on unnecessary pleasantries, just like his grandfather. The two had gotten moving again and walked along one of the main roads in Cobblestone.

“Well… I mean, I am, but I’m gonna miss you.” Gemma uncrossed her arms and looked around. The main street of Cobblestone was charming with an old-fashion look and feel. Her grandfather told her some of the buildings had been there for hundreds of years - since the time of the last Luminary!

The main street was deceptively busy compared to the rest of the town. Tourists gawked at the old buildings and quaint little shops and of course, the giant statue of the last Luminary that stood in the square. He was the whole reason all these tourists were even here. Even if there hadn’t been a Luminary in Erdrea for over 600 years, the fact that the last one grew up in Cobblestone was enough to still be pulling tourists from around Erdrea to this day. 

Gemma stopped in front of the Luminary statue. It was the centerpiece for a simple but beautiful fountain in the town square. Gemma sat down on the edge of the fountain and looked up at the statue. She was told it was carved long after the last Luminary had died, so she wasn’t sure how much it actually resembled him, but it looked just enough like El for her to tease him about it.

“I just... can’t believe it’s over, you know? No more messing around with tourists, or putting on those silly ‘Luminary re-enactment’ shows to make extra money to buy sweets with… Now you’re gonna go off to a big fancy school and get a fancy education and then… then… I don’t know? A real life or something!?” She said. Her elbows were on her knees and her chin was in her hands. El sat down beside her and looked around them. Though most of the people in the square were tourists trying to get a glimpse at what life was like for the Luminary, there were also many familiar faces. Tourists aside, Cobblestone was so small it was an everyone knows everyone kind of town. Despite being the hometown of the Luminary, it was tucked away in such an isolated corner it never pulled in the same amount of people as other cities the Luminary had made his mark on.

“It’s not like I’m dying…” He said, “I’m going to be back during breaks and we’ll call all the time, of course.” He smiled at Gemma, “You’ll always be my friend.” His words seemed to be enough to calm Gemma down. She reached over and gave him a hug before standing up,

“I guess I’m getting a little ahead of myself… It’s just school, and we have phones! And Dundrasil is only… uh…. Really far away… and…” She trailed off and shook her head in an attempt to keep herself from spiralling. Her gaze wandered and eventually met with a big clock on the clocktower in the square. Her eyes went wide, “Ohmygod - El! It’s almost time for you to go! Your mom sent me to go get you! Come on!” she spoke quickly and grabbed El by the arm to pull him towards the northern edge of town.

* * *

When they got to Eleven’s house his mother was already outside, pacing around. She stopped when Gemma and El got close,

“There you two are! I was starting to think El had gotten you two wrapped up in some sort of trouble!” Despite her words, Her tone was light and joyful. El just shrugged, but Gemma jumped to defend them,

“No! No trouble Miss Amber, I promise! We were just talking! I don’t know when I’m gonna see him in person next, you know!” Amber just laughed,

“Oh, I was just messing with you. I know you two want to enjoy as much time together as you can!” She turned to El, “I figured this would happen, so I already loaded up all of your bags into the taxi. Now, the driver’s getting impatient and everyone’s waiting to see you off! Let’s not make them wait too long, are you ready?” El nodded in response and the three of them made their way to the street corner. El’s house was up on a hill and only accessible by footpath. He hadn’t been looking forward to trying to get his luggage down there so he had no idea how his mother had managed to do it, but the crowd around the taxi gave him an idea of it.

It wasn’t the whole town, of course. Just a few of the people closest to his family. His mother's best friend was crying into a tissue, blubbering out something about how fast he’s growing up. As he got closer, Gemma’s grandfather gave El a friendly pat on the back so hard that he almost fell over. The older man just laughed, 

“Leave it you to be so skilled with spells _and_ swords that you can get yourself a scholarship to a University in Dundrasil, and then get knocked over by a pat on the back!” El just gave him a smile and shrug, But as always, Gemma jumped in to defend him,

“Grandpa! It would help if your ‘pats’ weren’t hard enough to snap a tree in half!” The two continued to bicker and El turned towards his mom. She looked on the verge of tears, and the sight of it made El feel like he was about to bawl too, and when they shared one last hug goodbye they were both sobbing. Even if she wasn’t his biological mother, it did feel like she passed on to her son her tendency to start crying her eyes out at the drop of a hat.

Amber pulled away, pushing tears away from her eyes,

“Do me proud, ok?” She said before smiling wide, “What am I saying, of course you will!”

The taxi driver interrupted with a loud cough. El and his mother looked towards him and he was just staring at the road with an annoyed look. Amber just laughed, “Well, I guess that’s your cue to get going! Wouldn’t want you to miss your airship now would you!” 

El nodded, and with one last short hug, he turned towards the taxi.

“El, wait!” 

El turned and Gemma was running towards him. Her hands were rifling around for something in her pockets. She pulled them out and handed El something. He looked down into his hands and saw a small blue sack. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand with space to spare and tied with an orange ribbon. The ribbon had shiny yellow beads on the ends.

“Um… You know…” Gemma was looking at the ground and shuffling her feet, “That old town legend, to give one of these to someone before a long journey. It’s a good luck charm… Or something.”

El smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. His smiles were so bright, like the sun. He gave her a hug, 

“Thank you. I’ll call you when I get there, I promise.”

He let go and turned to get into the taxi.

“You better!” Gemma called to him as he closed the door behind him. Everyone who’d come to see him off waved at the car until it was out of sight. 

* * *

The car ride was quiet. The driver wasn’t much for talking, but that was fine with El. he wasn’t much for talking either. There was a nameplate on the center console, along with the taxi company's name and car number. The driver’s name was Eleven. A little bit of a funny coincidence, El thought, But he didn’t say anything about it. Eleven was a pretty common name in Erdrea after all, he was sure this driver drove around other people named Eleven all the time. El looked out the window. He was set to take an airship from Heliodor to Dundrasil. Helidor was 3 hours away by car, but it was the closest city to Cobblestone with an airport, or at least one that had direct flights to Dundrasil. There was a small resort town on the Emerald Coast with a tiny airport, but it mostly just ferried vacationers to and from Heliodor and Amber was worried about El getting lost if he had to take connecting flights.

He turned away from the window and saw his carry-on bag on the seat next to him. His mother must have put it there for him. He smiled and reached into it, looking for the book he packed. That’d at least keep him busy until Heliodor. 

He stared at the words, but the soft humm of the car engine and subtle rocking of the car on the country roads got the best of him, and before he knew it, he’d dozed off.

* * *

The wind was blowing. It was strong and spun around him like a gust caught in a doorway. It must have been strong, He felt like he was going to be knocked over, but it made no sound. Everything around him was dead silent. The grass swayed silently. A crow flew above him and opened its beak to caw, but it made no sound.

The bird stopped, suspended in midair, and the world around Eleven shifted. He was dizzy, his head spun, but he couldn’t move. He could only stand there helplessly as the world moved around him.

When it stopped, he was outside Heliodor. He didn’t know how he knew it was Heliodor. It didn’t look anything like the pictures he’d seen, but somehow he knew this was Heliodor. Everyone was staring at him. He couldn’t move. Everything was silent. No one was staring at him. Everyone was staring at his hand. Eleven was staring at his hand. When did he move his head? When did he move his hand? Everything was quiet.

His hand held a necklace, a simple gold chain with a shining green jewel. The light from the jewel was so bright. El wanted to squint but he couldn’t move. Everyone was staring at him. Everyone was staring at the necklace.

Everyone turned to El. Everyone reached their hands out. A thousand hands from every different direction, grasping towards him, grasping towards his hand, grasping towards the jewel. He couldn't move. It was so quiet.

Eleven awoke with a jolt, nearly falling out of the car in the process. He looked up and the taxi driver was standing next to him with the door open and a hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake,

“We’re here. Heliodor airport. Better a move on before you miss your flight.” The driver said dryly. He took his hand back and started to walk to the back of the car to get Elevens bags out. 


End file.
